Trial Balloon Reaches Heights Of Success

November 23, 1987|By Will Wellons and Craig Dezern of The Sentinel Staff

For two months Mike and Cindy Kelly hopped over and climbed through more than 1,200 yards of royal blue nylon draped thoughout their Conway home. For another five months, they wove reed into a three-man basket.

Yet after a flawless 90-minute flight Sunday morning in his 70-foot homemade hot-air balloon, Mike Kelly said the work was worth it.

Kelly, 34, had the perfect day to test his handcrafted wonder named Morning Glory -- clear blue skies and a soft 6- to 8-mph northeast wind. During his ride that started just after dawn at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando, Kelly and co-pilot Ron Fox flew about 20 miles, landing 3 to 4 miles southwest of Walt Disney World.

The calm winds were a sharp contrast from conditions early Saturday, during Kelly's first attempt at flight. More than 30 friends had gathered for the maiden voyage, but gusts of up to 20 mph kept the balloon on the ground.

''Yeah, let's not fly it,'' he said Saturday. ''I don't want to tear it up.''

''There are better days to fly,'' said a friend of Kelly.

But Kelly wanted to inflate the balloon anyway, to straighten it out and to show it to his friends.

After blowing air into the balloon with a fan, Kelly lighted the burner. Friends crowded around the bright orange flame to warm their hands. As the balloon lifted upright, a brilliant band of rainbow colors around its center, friends applauded.

''What do you think, Mildred?'' one woman asked. ''It's hard to believe he made that.''

Then Kelly climbed into the basket and poured a bit of champagne into the burner to christen the balloon. His wife joined him as friends snapped pictures and videotaped the proceedings.

After blowing air into the balloon with a fan, Kelly lighted the burner. Friends crowded around the bright orange flame to warm their hands. As the balloon lifted upright, a brilliant band of rainbow colors around its center, friends applauded.

''I thought I could make a balloon as good as the ones being sold,'' the test engineer for Martin-Marietta said.

Kelly, a weekend ballooning enthusiast for seven years, got the idea to build his own balloon about two years ago while he was shopping for his third craft. Kelly bought that balloon but decided to make his fourth.

Kelly spent every weekend for two months sewing on his double-needle industrial sewing machine.

Despite working on the balloon for hundreds of hours, Kelly still wondered whether his craft could match top balloons.

''It's probably not the best I've ever flown, but it's the prettiest,'' he said.